


these tired nights

by AStrangeDaze (TerraRising)



Series: spaces between the universe [3]
Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Identity Porn, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 07:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14827599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraRising/pseuds/AStrangeDaze
Summary: Seongwoo wonders why he's even here, running for his life, with someone he doesn't even really know.(Recommended to start from part 1 of the series to avoid confusion)





	these tired nights

Euigeon almost rips the door of the cab clean on its hinges before throwing Seongwoo into the car, quickly climbing in himself. “Ahjusshi, drive please!” he half yells at the startled cab driver who looks behind him to see the people shouting at them to stop still.

 

Seongwoo isn’t quite sure when exactly they got so far away or how Euigeon managed to outstrip them by this much. All he can remember through the pounding of his skull was a cacophony of shouting and the world a jarring blur around them as Euigeon ran as fast as he can.

 

Their driver hesitates to start the car, “Son, I don’t want any trouble.”

 

“Ahjusshi, please, my friend isn’t feeling well and those thugs are just after us because they’re mad that he bumped into them,” Euigeon pleads, the lie flowing off his tongue with ease.

 

The cab driver glances at Seongwoo’s pale visage through the rear view mirror, takes note of how heavily he leans the door and sighed, shifting the gear and stepping on the gas. “Alright, where to?”

 

Euigeon is about to ramble off an address when a gunshot rings out and everyone screams, feeling as if there had been a small explosion under the car when the bullet ruptured one of the tires. “Fuck!” Euigeon swears before turning to their terrified driver with a remorseful grimace, “Sorry ahjusshi!”

 

He leans over Seongwoo, throws the door open, and then bolts out of the vehicle, Seongwoo dragged behind him.

 

“Stop right there!” one of the numerous voices demand but Euigeon pays them no heed.

 

Down two streets and then they duck into an alley way; Seongwoo is panting, doubled-over and gasping for breath, but Euigeon looks barely winded, eyes bright and skin glowing healthily under the streetlights. Euigeon takes one look at Seongwoo and winces, knowing that the other man was already at his limit, stumbling behind him while clutching at his head. He wishes they could slow down, that he could let Seongwoo rest, but if they’re caught it would be disastrous.

 

He crouches down, gesturing for Seongwoo to get on, “Quick, on my back.”

 

“W-what?”

 

“Seongwoo just get on, please, they’re going to catch up, “ he begs.

 

“Who is even after you?” Seongwoo hisses, hysteria tinging his words even as he clambers onto Euigeon’s back.

 

“Hang on tight,” Euigeon says in lieu of an answer, hefting him up a little to readjust their position, making sure Seongwoo’s arms were secured around his neck before taking off at a much faster run than before.

 

And then he leaps.

 

It takes Seongwoo a moment to register that they’re _airborne_ as a result of a single leap and then he’s gaping, staring at the back of Euigeon’s head as they clear three stories from one jump alone and land on the rooftops. He keeps running the moment his feet hit the gravel on the rooftops, bounding across rooftops with a clatter, strong legs supporting them with an ease that seems ridiculous. The world whizzes by around them, gravity seems to be fighting against Euigeon and losing, and they (read: Euigeon) were running across rooftops like some kind of ninja assassin.

 

They’re moving faster than Seongwoo has ever seen anyone move, faster than Usain Bolt, hell, he’s pretty sure Euigeon’s going faster than some of the cars below. He shivers as the frigid night air tugs at every edge of his suit jacket and slips between the seams, the city lights that had been so removed from him all those nights ago now at the edge of his fingertips and yet Seongwoo hesitates, very aware now of the possibility of being burnt. Instead, he hides his face in the crook of Euigeon’s neck, holding back every protest or demand for an answer he has bubbling up in his chest and letting the other man carry him along rooftops and twisted alleyways.

 

The fresh air is a boon for his headache, even though the stress of the situation wasn’t helping at all, all the jostling has Seongwoo desperately holding back his nausea and praying he doesn’t upheave the contents of his stomach all over Euigeon’s shoulder.

 

Seongwoo wonders why he went along with Euigeon for all of this, why he didn’t just call it quits way back then when he was still nursing the beginning of this terrible migraine in the break room, why he went to the lengths of pretending to make out with the other man to hide him. Why he was now on the run with him when some type of law enforcement was after them even though Euigeon, if that even really was his name, swore he wasn’t a criminal.

 

He’s only really known Euigeon for a few months if you could even call keeping each other company Thursday nights for forty minutes on a train knowing someone. Even now, he should probably be struggling against Euigeon, should be trying to listen to the instructions to “freeze” rather than going down as an accomplice.

 

When they finally slow down, Seongwoo has no idea which part of the city they’re in anymore, but Euigeon sets him down gingerly, turning to him with an air of concern when he stumbles, arms coming up automatically to steady him. “Are you alright?” his voice is quiet though Seongwoo isn’t sure if that was on purpose or if his ears were still ringing from the whistling wind and unable to hear better, “I’m so sorry I got you caught up in this.”

 

Waving him away desperately, Seongwoo braces himself against a wall and bends over, retching, throwing up everything he’d eaten this evening as he finally loses that battle. There are tears stinging his eyes as he continued to gag, cold sweat dotting his forehead and he hates this even as he shakes from the force of his illness, dry heaving until there was nothing left but the bile in the back of his throat.

 

“Shit! Are you okay?”

 

Seongwoo glares, straightening slowly and groping through his pockets for something to wipe his mouth with, almost laughing hysterically when the only thing he finds is his mask from earlier. It does the job though and he drops the contaminated bit of fabric afterwards, disgusted, praying Doyeon isn’t actually expecting to get it back.

 

“Does it fucking look like I’m okay?”

 

“I-, do you need a doctor? Should we go to the hospital?” Euigeon hovers, one hand coming out to grip at Seongwoo’s elbow as he sways, clutching his pounding head, pain lancing through him in response to every stimulus around them.

 

“I think you’ve done enough, haven’t you?” Seongwoo says bitterly, pulling his arm out of Euigeon’s grasp, holding back a wince at the kicked puppy look that Euigeon wears even as he refuses to let go of his anger, “Are you going to tell me _what_ you got me caught up in now? Who are you really? Is Euigeon even your real name? Who were those people?”

 

Euigeon deflates in the face of Seongwoo’s demands, shuffling from side to side as he hunches in on himself. The sound of traffic around them filters into the alley way, distorted noise that seems to jab straight through his ears and into his skull, the pounding in Seongwoo’s head as he refuses to back down makes him think his painkillers just weren’t going to work today.

 

“ _What_ are you _?_ ” the words slip out through Seongwoo’s lips before he can think better of it and Euigeon jerks in a full-bodied flinch.

 

“I, I’m just like you,” Euigeon hedges lamely, his entire posture defeated, “I’m…I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

 

“ _What_ wasn’t supposed to be like this? Staying away from me? Your little disappearing act worked out so well, didn’t it?”

 

“That’s not what I meant-”

 

“What did you mean then, Euigeon? Or whoever you are.”

 

Seongwoo has no idea what kind of face the other is pulling and he’s regretting having this conversation at all. He wants to be home and alone, away from all this noise, wants to lie down and just wait for this migraine to pass, instead he’s stuck in this alley in the middle of god knows where facing down his not-quite-friend he met on a train with all his senses screaming at him.

 

Train Guy sighs, “Euigeon is my name. Or was my name, anyways.”

 

“Oh great, we’ve got secret identities too now,” Seongwoo snarks, wishing for a moment that his coping mechanism for stressful situations didn’t have to cause him pain, “With how fast you run and how high you can jump, I’ll bet you could punch someone across a room, couldn’t you? Are you a superhero? A super _villain_?”

 

“I’m not-”

 

Daniel whirls around before Seongwoo even hears the gun shot, tackling Seongwoo to the ground at bullets whiz over their heads.

 

“This is Delta Team, target spotted, requesting permission to use lethal force to subdue if necessary,” Seongwoo hears the words but it take a moment for him to fully comprehend them and his blood runs cold when he does, “Subject appears to be with the civilian reported earlier, uncertain if hostage or accomplice, over.”

 

Whatever their commands in return are don’t look to be great news for Seongwoo or Euigeon because they’re pinned down by gunfire moments later, and Euigeon swears even as he physically shields Seongwoo with his own body. Seongwoo shakes beneath him, heart and head pounding as adrenaline rushes through him. Oh god, they were going to die. Or Seongwoo was going to die because they clearly wanted Euigeon for something and didn’t care if a civilian was caught in the crossfire.

 

The moment there is a lull in the shooting, Euigeon shoots to his feet and launches himself forwards, taking out two of the agents witha deadly gleam in his eyes. The cocking of multiple guns in Seongwoo’s direction freezes him to the spot and he snarls in the direction of the squad captain. “Kang Daniel, you are under arrest. If you continue to resist lethal force will be used, I repeat, lethal force will be used. Now put your hands in the air and turn yourself in, or your friend here is going to get a couple of new piercings.”

 

Euigeon (or was it Daniel now?) bares his teeth and spits at his feet in response, “Playing dirty as always.”

 

The captain just laughs, keeping his gun levelled at Seongwoo who swallows hard, “Can you blame me? With you monsters on the streets, we need to level the playing field somehow. Now come quietly and we’ll let your little friend go, he’s not looking too good right now, is he?”

 

Euigeon bristles, reluctantly raising his arms and letting himself be shoved against the wall roughly, two agents frisking him down as several more keep them both at gunpoint. “That’s a good dog,” the mocking voice of the captain echoes agains the walls and Seongwoo grits his teeth, barely standing now with how badly his head hurts; if only he wasn’t here then Euigeon wouldn’t have to mind this liability, could probably have gotten away.

 

Just as they move to cuff Euigeon though, the man jerks away on instinct and a gunshot rings out as a nervous agent pulls the trigger too eagerly and Seongwoo screams. _Pain, pain, pain, pain,_ ** _pain._**

 

And the world freezes.

 

It’s like a dam burst, images flash before his eyes too quickly for his mind to categorize them all, too quickly for Seongwoo to truly comprehend them but the relief is immediate.

 

The pounding in his head is gone, everything is a thousand times clearer - he can hear the harsh breathing of everyone around him, can feel their fear and confusion as everything is suspended in time, as their limbs are frozen and no longer under their control, as a single bullet hovers inches from Euigeon’s head.

 

No.

 

From _Daniel’s_ head.

 

Seongwoo steps forward and bats the agents away from them with a single thought, sending them flying into a wall and then pinning them there with intent alone. The single bullet clatters to the ground, harmless.

 

Daniel turns around slowly, hesitantly as if he doesn't quite dare to believe, relief and sheepishness warring on his features, “Hyung.”

 

Seongwoo sighs and then grabs him in a hug with the desperation and longing built up over the past five years, even though he hadn’t known it during that time, and Daniel clings to him just as tightly, sobbing into his shoulder.

 

_Five years._

 

Pressing a kiss to Daniel’s temple, Seongwoo flexes his mind one last time, wincing at the effort it takes, by the gods, he was so out of practise. The agents slump to the ground, unconscious, and he pants from the effort it took to not fry their brains.

 

“Come on,” he throws an arm over Daniel’s shoulder, breathing out and watching at his breath floats upwards, a visible chill cutting through the night sky, “let’s get out of here. We have a lot to catch up on.”


End file.
